Sir Philip lures Burberry merchandising chief to Topshop stable

SIR PHILIP GREEN has poached Burberry’s merchandising director to run Topshop, one of the most high-profile jobs in retail.

Paul Price will start at the tycoon’s retail group on Sept 4 as chief executive of Topshop and Topman following a decade at the British luxury group. Mr Price takes over from the highly respected Mary Homer, who revealed in March that she would be leaving to become chief executive of homewares business The White Company, after working with Sir Philip for 30 years.

Sir Philip is understood to have been looking for someone with an international and online retail background, although industry observers had mentioned that the billionaire’s wariness about bringing outsiders into his privately-run empire might complicate the search process.

Mr Price has a deep background in US retail, having worked at Lucky Brand Jeans, Banana Republic and beginning his fashion retail career at Bloomingdales. America remains a big opportunity for Topshop, the fashion brand currently has 10 stores from Atlanta to LA and concessions in department store Nordstrom.

“I believe Paul will be a great catalyst in leading the next phase of Topshop/ Topman’s expansion,” said Sir Philip.

Burberry announced in May that Mr Price would leave the luxury group in July to “pursue a new opportunity”. The Topshop hire comes just days after Sir Philip’s Arcadia group, which includes Topshop, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, announced that Baroness Karren Brady would become chairman of the group, taking over from Lord Grabiner.

Lord Grabiner had come under heavy fire from MPS during an investigation into the collapse of BHS, who said that he represented the “apogee of weak corporate governance” for failing to attend meetings that decided the fate of the now defunct retailer.

Arcadia last year suffered a 16pc fall in profits to £211m as sales dropped more than 2.5pc. Sir Philip has also recently said that he was hoping to find a solution for Topshop’s Australian franchise business, which was placed into voluntary administration in May.